What makes an authentic superhero
Transcriber: lassi shine
Reviewer: Hani Eldalees
Hello, my name is
Ram Devineni and I am
the creator of India’s first
female superhero, Priya.
She’s the role model for
a younger generation,
a new vision for a superhero grounded
in real life modern problems.
Superheroes are everywhere and
more popular than ever.
You cannot turn on a TV or streaming
channel without being bombarded by
superheroes in tights, spandex and capes.
Why have they become so huge? and
what do they tell us about us
and our modern times? And why have modern
superheroes become disconnected from
the people they are supposed to serve,
protect and represent into a chasm of
mindless entertainment and distraction?
In the past, our stories were rooted in
nature and the challenges we faced,
the mythological characters and stories
enlighten us about ourselves and
the mysteries of the world.
As societies evolved, more complex
stories needed to be told.
Our mythological stories evolved
with us.
growing up in
a small village in southern India.
I used to read the Hindu mythological
comics and was fascinated by
the exploits and adventures of
the Indian gods and heroes.
There were many rich stories involving
regular people calling upon
the gods in dire situations.
Often the gods would intervene, but
it was the villager, our hero,
who had to complete the quest and
solve their own problems.
You can see this motif in many cultures
and mythologies throughout the world,
beautifully captured in Joseph
Campbell’s classic book,
The Hero With A Thousand Faces.
Even though the hero had to go through
extraordinary adventures,
there was always a clear separation
from the human world and
the supernatural world or godlike world.
And the human were the instigators
of change.
with the advent of modern superheroes in
Western cultures. This started to change.
At first, the superheroes were
still part of society.
The early versions of Superman in Action
Comics had him fighting against criminals.
Same with Batman in Detective Comics.
He was an ordinary human being who lost
both of his parents when he was
a child in a senseless murder.
For the creators of both characters,
justice was paramount.
As World War Two raged around the world,
the villains were more grandiose and
devastating, from Hitler to Mussolini.
As a result, Superman and Batman were
challenged by villains who are equally
powerful in their own ways.
These super villains attacked at
the core values of our heroes.
Superman’s love of humanity is an example.
Superman’s arch enemy, Lex Luthor,
used his super intelligence since he
could not fight Superman’s physical
powers to conceive destructive
schemes to destroy
the fabric of society in
order to gain power.
Yet all the villains were human and had
to adhere to the laws of society
and to the natural laws
of living on Earth.
With the nuclear age and especially
the corporatization of the world,
the superheroes no longer contended
with the problems of humans
and justice was redefined.
Humans became pawns in a bigger chess
game involving creatures and aliens
and super villains with godlike powers.
This is where the mythologies that were
created to serve us were replaced by
stories that were there to entertain us.
I want to share an alternative universe
of female comic book heroes rooted in
real people, histories and incidents.
One of the crucial elements when creating
an authentic comic book story is that
you need to have an origin story
for your character. All superheroes
are created from tragedy,
and it is through tragedy that
we learn the hero’s purpose.
In my comic book, Priya is a rape survivor
who is thrown out of her village
and is forced to live in the jungle.
She is stalked by a tiger,
which represents fear.
One day she climbs down from the tree
and looks at a tiger in the eye
and sings a powerful mantra given
to her by the goddess Parvati.
Speak without shame and stand
with me and bring about
the change you want to see. Soon the
tiger is transformed into our ally.
Fear becomes Shakti or power.
She rides the tiger back
into town and at first
the villagers are afraid of her
because she’s riding a tiger.
But as they hear her powerful mantra,
the townspeople are transformed and
join her on a movement to fight
the cultural stigmas and patriarchy
surrounding rape.
In the next edition of the comic book
series, I focused on acid attacks.
I met several courageous acid
attack survivors in India
and New York City who told
me their stories.
They face the same cultural stigmas
that rape survivors had to endure.
But the physical scars were more apparent.
Overcoming fear was critical for them
to change from victim to a survivor.
And the remarkable women became advocates
and heroes in my comic book
and in real life. More recently,
Priya took on the covid-19
pandemic in Preus mask.
Fighting an invisible virus is difficult,
but challenge the fears and victim blaming
with something Prieur could take on.
She helps a little girl named
Mina to understand her feelings,
loneliness and the sacrifices
her mother, a nurse,
makes every day fighting the virus.
Prieur, We need to stand together and
bring about the change we want to see.
That’s how we can beat the virus.
Continue to wear a mask for
your safety and mine.
Here are some lessons I learned
when I created Priya and
I like to share with you. Always
have an authentic story and
a character born from tragedy.
Their tragedy is what makes them a hero
and often gives them their superpowers.
All superheroes, even if they’re alien,
have human qualities.
That is why we love them, not because
of their supernatural abilities,
but because we can project
ourselves into them.
Root your character in your culture,
why make your superhero like every
other superhero wearing a cape,
make your superhero authentic,
do the research and talk with people
and especially people you admire
and you think should be superheroes
or at least heroes.
Their lives and stories will ground
you and give meaning to your work.
And don’t be afraid to put your own
personalities and quirks into
the characters.
Justice should be paramount.
Why make a superhero if they can’t change
their community and themselves?
Remember, people want to believe. That is
why millions of people attend comic
book conventions and follow these
characters long after their childhoods
have passed. People are not
looking for saviors,
but heroes that have grand visions
and can influence them to do
what is right. That is the power of Priya.
Her super power is the power of influence,
A radical concept and the superhero
pantheon. Lastly, be innovative.
unique things we did with
our series is that we embedded
the comic book with augmented reality.
We were one of the first to
do it back in 2014 when
the technology was relatively unknown.
By scanning the pages with an AR app,
you can see it come to life.
Here’s a short video of the augmented
reality murals we created in India.
thank you for listening.